With art, Leonel Portillo challenges Juarez’s violent image

Americas Now

Ciudad Juarez is border town between Mexico and the U.S., and became infamous for a wave of attacks beginning in the 1990s that left hundreds of women dead over the course of a decade. Though homicide rates there are falling, the scars have yet to heal.

In 2010, a young man decided to try and alter the sad and violent reputation of Ciudad Juarez. By making murals for public spaces, he and some colleagues are literally changing the image of this town with paint. Leonel Portillo is the founder of the Colectivo JellyFish. He is also this week’s Game Changer on Americas Now.

JellyFish is expanding its art to the U.S. taking their colorful murals to the cities of El Paso and Austin in Texas.

Leonel Portillo is changing the violent image of Ciudad Juarez’s past with art

Leonel Portillo is changing the violent image of Ciudad Juarez’s past with art

Ciudad Juarez is border town between Mexico and the U.S., and became infamous for a wave of attacks beginning in the 1990s that left hundreds of women dead over the course of a decade. Though homicide rates there are falling, the scars have yet to heal.
In 2010, a young man decided to try and alter the sad and violent reputation of Ciudad Juarez. By making murals for public spaces, he and some colleagues are literally changing the image of this town with paint. Leonel Portillo is the founder of the Colectivo JellyFish. He is also this week’s Game Changer on Americas Now. JellyFish is expanding its art to the U.S. taking their colorful murals to the cities of El Paso and Austin in Texas.